Score! Alumnus Composes Piece for the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra

Al Wojtera opened his musical score during a Roanoke Symphony Orchestra rehearsal. As the symphony percussionist and chair of the Radford University Department of Music looked at the piece “Procession of the Little Drummer Boy,” the composer’s name caught his eye.

It read “Stoots.” Wojtera smiled to himself. The composer was none other than Jonathan Stoots ’16, who majored in music with a concentration in music business and was an intern for the orchestra and its conductor, David Stewart Wiley, at the time.

“Jonathan is a talented composer and arranger on the verge of a wonderful career,” Wiley said. “It has been my and our privilege at the Roanoke Symphony to mentor him and watch his talent and hard work come to fruition.”

The orchestra premiered the piece Dec. 5, 2016, during a Holiday Pops concert at Covington High School in Covington, Virginia. Wiley directed Stoots’ piece and said it was well received.

“As I had never composed for a full-size orchestra, I leaned heavily in what I had been taught in my music history and theory classes to write for strings, as I really had no prior experience,” Stoots said, “Score study in these classes made the difference in how I arranged and composed.”

To gain this internship opportunity, Stoots used his networking skills learned from the Radford University music business program. He met Wiley through an introduction by Radford University director of bands, R. Wayne Gallops.

The orchestra hopes to continue mentoring Radford University students and being a training laboratory for young rising professionals such as Stoots.